Once Removed
by kittenlore
Summary: Au Family not Father/Son Mentions death of a child from disease. A/N Charlotte, Iona, and Cyrus, were used with permission from Gottahavemyncis, who has been kind, gracious and encouraging to me.


A/N Charlotte, Iona, and Cyrus, were used with permission from Gottahavemyncis, who has been kind, gracious and encouraging to me.

"You know what they say about six degrees of separation," Tim said to Tony.

"Nice movie reference, Probie but next you'll be telling me that Boss is your cousin."

"You never know." Ellie added with a smile.

"Well Tony, if Elflord here is a cousin of some sort, I'll treat you all to steaks at my place." "Hear that Mcancestry, find that connection and we'll be having steak." Tony said his mouth watering at the thought.

Tim laughed, thinking he would mention it to Sarah and let her have a laugh too. His sister taken an interest in the family's history.

A little under two months ago Sarah had gone to see Penelope. While there she had gone with her to visit family gravesites. Among the graves Sarah noticed one for a child. The date of birth was worn, but the death date was clear. It caused Sarah to pause. She was aware of Tim's job and modern day illnesses. She knew children could die young, but this seemed more tangible, perhaps because it was personal. It had touched her heart.

"Ahh, Eileen." Penelope said. "My grandmother told me about her sister. She was the light of the family. I believe I have a copy of a family portrait. I'll show you when we get back. This family is important too Sarah. They are part of who you came from. They played, laughed, loved, had hopes and dreams. I think if we get to know what we can of them, putting pieces together like a puzzle, then perhaps a part of us will recognize them when we move beyond this life."

Sarah had taken down the information on Eileen and took a picture of the portrait, noting all the names.  
The next weekend she visited her parents and spoke to them of her interest in the family. Sarah was gathering all information she could from them. Her Mom remembered a journal from Iona Stirling, Sarah's great journal had been tucked away in an old cedar chest. Sarah opened it gently, taking in Iona's handwritten words done in the writing style of the time. Sarah spent the night poring over Iona's life. It had been vibrant and full. The one thing she seemed to long for was an older sister, Charlotte. Charlotte it seemed had been disowned by the family when she married. Iona had often wondered about her sister and the love she had in her heart for her never dimmed. Sarah made copies of everything. Her Mom had found an old portrait of Iona and Sarah took a photo of that as well.

After doing some research Sarah decided on using two genealogy sites. One she paid for, the other was free.  
Sarah was also aware of other avenues for locating records. She carefully loaded the information, following the hints as she got to know different family members. She found a site that listed birth and death records and was confident she had located the death certificate number for Eileen. She sent away for it.

About six weeks later the certificate arrived in the mail. Eileen had died at home. In addition to the names, the address matched the information that Penelope had given her. There was a good birth date on the certificate. Eileen had been four years old when she died. The cause of death had been acute gastroenteritis. She would touch base with Penelope and let her know her findings. Her heart ached and she wiped away a stray tear.

Sarah was able to get even more of a picture of Iona in the genealogical records from the sites she was on. Finding out something on Charlotte was proving trickier. She started to think about taking a dna test. Her settings on her t trees were private, but she thought, she would be willing to share if there was a good possibility of a blood relation.

Sarah touched base with Tim and she did smile at the thought of Gibbs being a relation and shake her head at the antics of Tim and Tony. Though, she did admit to herself that the thought of tasting one of Gibbs' famous steaks was appealing.

Cyrus stood in the corner of his attic. He was almost done sorting things as he prepared to move to a smaller home. In an old trunk there were some quilts. He decided he would keep one of the family quilts for himself. The others would be gifted to other members of the family. As to the chest itself, well perhaps that would go to Jethro. It wasn't a boat, but it was a beautiful piece of workmanship. Once he had the quilts out and sorted, he examined the inside of the trunk, the lid of which seemed a bit heavy. As he moved it up and down he thought he heard a faint noise. Recalling a conversation with Jethro about older furnishings and hidden compartments, Cyrus decided to examine it more closely. He found what looked to be a small latch. When he opened it, down came a few letters. Reaching inside the opening he found dozens more.

Cyrus recognized the name of, Charlotte, his Grandmother. The envelopes were all addressed from her to an Iona. Iona however did not seem to have a last name. He opened one and his breath was taken away as he read the opening address - To My Dear Sister Iona. He gathered all the letters and took them down to the kitchen table. He would organize them by date. He knew his Grandmother had been disowned when she had married. Cyrus recalled occasions where she would have a look in her eyes of profound sadness and longing. She had instilled in her children a number of things including gratitude and an appreciation for the blessings in life. These had been passed down to the next generation. Charlotte's main focus had been on the family. All members of the family were encouraged to work through their differences and to love one another. Charlotte's admonition to "Treasure family" rang softly in Cyrus' head.

As he went through the letters he noted Charlotte shared with Iona the milestones in her life and the lives of her children, as well as wondering when such milestones may have occurred for Iona. Did she marry? What was her name? Did she have children? Though Charlotte was now in a place where she knew, Cyrus wondered did he have more family? Technology had come a long way. With all kinds of sites for family history available, Cyrus thought it just might be worth a shot.

Sitting down at the computer, Cyrus began to enter the information he had. At first he had entered Charlotte Stirling, and then Iona Stirling. Each name garnered over six hundred thousand results. Even with additional information in the parameters, it still seemed a daunting task. Cyrus thought of Jethro again, of how dna was used to solve cases, mysteries if you will. Could Cyrus locate Iona's descendants by using a dna test? Eyeing the pile of letters he decided yes. He would do this to find out if there was more family to treasure.

Sarah found herself out of bed just long enough to grab a notebook and a pen. She spent the next hour writing the words of a poem that had come to mind. Meanwhile Tim woke about two in the morning, thinking the need to write could be cruel sometimes. If he did not crawl out of bed and heed the words, they would fly away. When he would try to later retrieve them they would be elusive. He would play what would likely be a losing game of hide and seek as they would hide in the shadowy corners of the labyrinth of his mind.

Friday found the team getting ready to enjoy the weekend. Ellie was going to visit one of her brothers whose family had just welcomed a new baby. Tony was meeting up with some friends from college for homecoming. Tim was going to get together with Sarah to look over what she had gathered on the family.

Gibbs phone rang. "Gibbs" he answered.  
"Cyrus"  
"Who names their kid Cyrus?" Tony whispered to Tim who just shrugged while Gibbs shot a glare at them. Ellie hid a smile behind her hand.  
"Sounds good. Look forward to seeing you." Gibbs hung up and took in the quizzical looks on the teams faces. Deciding to throw them a bone so to speak he said.  
"Cyrus is my cousin.. He's coming to visit tomorrow." The team headed out.

Cyrus's dna results had come in. He looked at the different things. There was one match he was interested in, but the tree was set to private,  
which meant he couldn't view it. He could however contact the person who owned the tree. He had come this far. Why not?

Early in the morning, there was a knock on Tim's door. He opened it to find Sarah practically vibrating as she stepped inside.  
"I know we said we'd get together today, but isn't this a bit early even for you?"  
"Sorry Tim, but I've found something. It's big, I think."  
"Ok what's up?" Tim said still confused but wanting to know what had Sarah so excited. Sarah set up her laptop and went to her dna results and matches. "Look at this." Sarah had told him what she knew of the story of Iona and Charlotte. Tim followed the family line back to Iona. He looked at the dna relative hint she had. The person's tree was visible and Tim looked from it's owner Cyrus, back to Charlotte. Then Tim caught site of Anne, and her husband, Jackson Gibbs of Stillwater Pennsylvania. Tim just sat there with his mouth hanging open, his mind awash in disbelief. He came back to reality to find Sarah waving a hand in front of his face.  
"What?"  
"I was saying the owner of this tree wants to see my information. Do you think I should?"  
"Yes."  
"You sound so sure."  
"Sarah, Gibbs got a call yesterday - from his cousin Cyrus."  
"I should be more surprised. I really should be, but with your team more things that should be unbelievable just aren't."  
"Don't I know it."

Cyrus woke up and powered up the computer then set about fixing sausage and coffee for breakfast. He was pleasantly surprised with the response to his request. He examined the tree. The difference in ages of the sisters made sense. The owner typed up and scanned in the story Iona and her sister Charlotte as they knew it. He sat back, his eyes a little misty. He noticed some of the other names in the tree had the surname McGee. He could have sworn Jethro had a young man on his team with that name. No. It couldn't be. It would be worth looking into. He decided to thank the owner of the other tree and send his phone number. He had a feeling there just might be smiles in heaven and that the fates could be laughing.

Sarah's computer dinged with the incoming message. Cyrus had sent his phone number and was interested in getting together. Tim had by this time looked Cyrus up and noting that the number matched what he had found gave the ok to call him. Cyrus was just about ready to leave when the phone rang. Tim and Sarah were using the speaker function on the phone, so they could both hear and talk.

Sarah introduced Cyrus to Tim over the phone. As they all got to talking, they confirmed the connections between Cyrus, Gibbs, Tim and Sarah. Cyrus had an idea.  
"Why don't you show up tonight around five for dinner I told Jethro I'd pick something up. I'll just pick up more."  
"We couldn't. Don't want to interrupt your evening with the Boss."  
"Boss, eh, it will do him some good if you ask me. Now you both sound like you've been taught to mind your elders."  
"Yes, of course." they replied clearly seeing where this was headed.  
"Good, I'll bring a picture of Charlotte and the letters. See you at five." He then hung up without saying goodbye. Tim shook his head as he muttered, " I wonder if that's a family thing. You want to meet back here later and head over together?"  
"Sure." Sarah said, thinking about making three copies of the poem she had written.

Gibbs returned from making a run for drinks, to find a message from Cyrus on the machine. "Picking up a bit more food ... kids are coming too."  
A few hours later Gibbs opened his door to the site of Cyrus with the steamer trunk, McGee holding groceries, and Sarah, with what looked like wrapped gifts in a bag and a laptop.

Seeing the look on Jethro's face Cyrus let out a bark of a laugh and said.  
" Told you kids were coming, never said they were mine."  
Shaking his head Gibbs let them in. They put the food up, grabbed something to drink and sat down.

"Someone want to explain things here?"  
"Well Boss, you know when Tony was joking about us being cousins of some sort, well we are." Tim managed to get out.  
"What? How?"  
"Jethro, I can explain with a little help from this young lady." Cyrus said indicating Sarah who set up her laptop.  
"Let's start with Grandmother Charlotte and her sister Iona..."  
The tale was quickly told of sisters lost to each other for a while in this life, of a journal, a trunk, letters and dna tests. Sarah pulled out the gifts and handed them to Cyrus, Gibbs, and Tim.

Inside each was a frame with her poem inside. Remembering what Cyrus had told her she arced the words Treasure Family at the top of the page.

Will You?  
Will you know who I am when our eyes meet and I hold you in a loving embrace?  
Will my semblance be at all familiar when we meet face to face?

Will you chart my life's journey through the annals of time?  
When you see that I buried a child will your heart ache for mine?

Do you know where I am buried; where the world says I am laid to rest?  
Do you know my soul's fondest desire? Can you imagine or guess?

If you do;

You will know who I am when our eyes meet and I hold you in a loving embrace.

My semblance will be more than familiar when we meet face to face.

Gibbs made the steaks for dinner. When he noticed Tim just staring at his Gibbs caught his attention. He knew he was thinking of Tony and Ellie and told him not to worry, they would have a team get together and let them in on this. Tim voiced his concern about Director Vance. Gibbs didn't think it would be an issue and said he'd invite him too. The price of an extra steak would be worth it to see the look on his face. Wondering, he asked Tim if he could set up something to record everything. After dinner Gibbs stepped away for a minute. When he came back they all were still talking and drinking coffee. Cyrus was asking Tim and Sarah what they thought of preserving the journal and letters by scanning them into the computer. Cyrus was glad to see what was in Jethro's hands. He had a feeling these new connections would be good for him.

As he sat down Tim caught site of the album in Gibbs hands. He said. "Boss, no, you don't have to."  
"Not at work Tim you don't have to call me Boss. Want to share this. I want you to know who they are."  
Sarah gave Gibbs a shy smile. Tim nodded as he swallowed around the lump in his throat. Gibbs opened the cover to the album displaying a picture of Kelly playing dress up.

The End


End file.
